Sport shoe, especially for football



A. DASSLER Sept. 19, 1967 SPORT SHOE, ESPECIALLY FOR FOOTBALL Filed July 1, 1965 FIG. 1

INVENTOR Hum. .DRSSLER nit ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An athletic shoe whose outer sole is made of a resilient plastic and which is provided, on its underside, with a web that is located in the shank area and extends longitudinally of the sole, the edges of which web are spaced from the edges of the remainder of the sole.

The present invention relates to a sport shoe and more particularly to a football shoe which is provided with a resilient outer sole of plastic, preferably nylon, on which cleats or spikes are removably secured by means of suitable inserts which are embedded within the sole.

During the past few years, it has become more and more prevalent to provide sport shoes and especially football shoes for soccer and similar games with an outer sole of a resilient plastic, especially nylon. Such soles have the advantage that, due to their inherent resilence, they will return to their original substantially flat shape after they have been bent by the natural rolling movement of the foot along the ground and by the action of hitting the ball when the sole is often bent almost at a right angle. It has, however, been found that under these severe bending stresses these soles will often break, especially at cold temperatures. The break then occurs primarily within the shank area of the sole upon which the bending stresses are concentrated since the front part of the outer sole to which the cleats or spikes are secured and in which the rigid securing means for these elements are anchored cannot bend either at all or to the extent as required in order to distribute the bending stresses uniformly over the entire length of the sole.

This concentration of the bending stresses to the shank area has the further disadvantage that, despite its in herent resilience, the material of the sole will suffer from fatigue and will then be permanently deformed. The resilience of the sole within the shank area will then also be considerably reduced or lost which in football shoes impairs the force with which the ball may be hit. The shank area of the shoe will then also no longer fit properly on the foot which causes the wearer to lace the shank part of the shoe very tightly in order to compensate as much as possible for the deformation of the sole. Such a tight lacing of the shoe, in turn, impairs the blood circulation and soon leads to tiring of the wearer and thus to a decline of his strength.

Although efforts have been made to overcome the danger of breakage of plastic soles by adding plasticizers to the material so as to make the soles more flexible, the soles thereby lost their solidity which they require in order to take up the pressure which is exerted by the cleats or spikes and to prevent this pressure from being transmitted to the foot. Although it would, of course, be possible to make the outer soles of such a thickness that the pressure of the cleats or spikes will be taken up by them, this would, however, be contrary to the efforts of making the shoes as light as possible which is an important presumption for a good performance of the player or athlete in the respective sport. A thick outer sole would also hinder the natural rolling movement of the foot.

tat t $41,952 Patented Sept. 19, 196? It is therefore an object of the present invention to coordinate the above-mentioned, partly conflicting requirements upon the soles of sport shoes and especially football shoes for the purpose of eliminating the mentioned disadvantages which heretofore occurred in such shoes.

For attaining this object, the invention provides that the bending stresses which act upon the shank area of the sole of a sport shoe be displaced toward the toe area of the shoe by making the area of the outer sole between the shank area and the last cleats or spikes in front of the shank area of a greater flexibility than the shank area itself. According to one preferred embodiment of the invention, a part of the outer sole within the area between the shank and the last cleats or spikes in front of the shank is for this purpose made thinner than the shank area itself which, if desired, may even be reinforced. The invention therefore provides that the mentioned part of the sole in front of the shank should be thinner or more flexible than the thickest part of the shank area. Contrary to the sport shoes of the conventional type, the main bending Zone of the sole is therefore no longer located within the shank area but more forwardly, that is, approximately between the ball and shank or, as seen in the direction toward the shank, directly behind the cleats or spikes on the ball part of the sole. This eliminates the danger that the sole might break within the shank area and it also insures that the shank area will retain the desired resilience. The mentioned reinforcements within the shank area of the sole may be of any desired type, for example, in the form of fiat or rib-shaped projections, or they may be produced by embossing, for example, in the form of stiffening corrugations or other impressions. The reinforcements also do not need to be integral with the outer sole, but may consist of separate layers, for example, of a steel spring or a layer of glass fibers, which may be applied upon the inner surface of the sole or be inserted into a recess therein.

The relatively large and permanently set deflection of a sole of a sport shoe and especially a football shoe has the result that bulges are formed on the insole which may consist, for example, of a composition which is made of leather fibers. These bulges are formed because the material of the insole will not be uniformly displaced at the place or places where the outer sole is bent. These bulges not only prevent the formation of a proper foot bedding and are very uncomfortable to the foot of the wearer, but they also reduce the resilience of the shoe bottom. When employing an insole of the conventional type, these facts would diminish the advantages which may be attained if the outer sole is made of a structure in accordance with the present invention. The invention therefore provides additionally that the parts of the insole which are especially subjected to bending be reduced in thickness, for example, by grinding, or be provided with apertures which may be simply attained by punching. Since a strong lasting edge should be retained on the insole, the thinned parts or apertures should, however, not extend up to the outer edges of the insole and the unreduced marginal edge portion of the insole should preferably have a width of at least 10 mm.

The features and advantages of the present invention will become more clearly apparent from the following detailed description thereof which is to be read with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a plan view of the bottom side of an outer sole according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 shows a longitudinal section of the lower part of a football shoe which is provided with an outer sole as shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 shows a top view of a modification of the insole for a sport shoe according to the invention; while FIGURE 4 shows a. top view of another modification of the insole.

Referring first particularly to FIGURE 1 of the draw ings, the outer sole 1 which consists of a resilient plastic, preferably nylon, and is produced, for example, by molding, comprises a relatively thin part 2 and a thicker projecting part 3 integrally thereon. Part 2 may have a thickness of 1 to 2 mm. and has the usual shape of an outer sole. The flat projecting part 3 which forms a reinforcement of the outer sole extends from the two heel cleats 4 to the most forward cleats 5. Within the area of this reinforced part 3, the outer sole has a total thickness of approximately 3.5 to 4 mm. The reinforced part 3 is provided with recesses 6 and 7 which extend to points near the edges of the sole. Recess 6 forms the bending part of the outer sole which according to the invention is located in front of the shank area 8, while recess 7 forms another bending part which is located between the most forward cleats and the two ball cleats 9. As illustrated in FIGURE 1, the length of the recesses 6 and 7, as seen in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the sole, is greater than their maximum width, as seen in a direction parallel to this axis.

Due to the reinforced part 3, webs Ill and 11 are formed between the two cleats 5 and R of each pair which are spaced substantially equally from the central longitudinal axis of the sole. Cleats 5 and 9 are supported on these webs 1t) and 11 which thus act as pressure distributing elements. Webs 10 and 11 are also intended to prevent the cleats from bending over as the result of the forces which, when the shoe is worn, will act upon the cleats in the direction parallel to the surface of the outer sole. These webs also permit the metallic inserts, not shown, which are embedded in the outer sole for removably securing the cleats to the outer sole, to be made of a rela tively small cross-sectional size so that also for this reason the entire sole will have a low Weight.

Within the shank, toe, and heel areas of the outer sole, the reinforced part 3 is spaced from the edges of the sole by the marginal parts 13, 14, and 15 which are formed by the thinner part 2 of the sole.

FIGURE 2 illustrates diagrammatically the shoe structure according to the invention, in which the outer sole 1 according to FIGURE 1 is secured to an upper 22 and an insole 16 which is provided with apertures 17 and 18 which are substantially in vertical alignment with the recesses 6 and 7 of the outer sole 1 and are filled out with a cushioning material 19, for example, foam plastic.

FIGURE 3 shows a modification of the insole in which the rear aperture 18 which is filled with a cushioning material 19 projects into the shank area. According to the further modification of the invention, as shown in FIG- URE 4, the insole is merely provided with recesses 29 and 21 in place of the filled-out apertures 17 and 18 as shown in FIGURE 3. The lateral unreduced sides of the insole adjacent to the apertures 17 and 13 according to FIG- URES 2 and 3 or adjacent to the recesses 2t and 21 according to FIGURE 4 should have a width suflicient to permit the upper 22 to be properly lasted to the insole even by means of a conventional lasting machine.

Although, as previously stated, the bending parts of the outer sole which in the particular embodiments as illustrated are formed by the recesses 6 and 7 should have a greater length than width, as seen transversely to the longitudinal axis of the sole, the particular shape thereof may be considerably varied. Thus, the desired effect may also be attained by providing the outer sole with transverse grooves. Furthermore, the recesses may also be provided either in the outer or inner side of the outer sole or even in both sides.

Although my invention has been illustrated and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, I wish to h ve it understood that it is in no way limited to the details of such embodiments but is capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention, what I claim is:

l. A sport shoe comprising an upper, an insole, and a resilient outer sole of plastic, means for removably securing cleats or spikes at least to the front area of said outer sole in front of its shank area, at least the part of said outer sole between said shank area and the last cleats or spikes in front of said shank area being of a greater flexibility than said shank area for displacing the bending stresses normally acting upon the shank area in the direction toward the toe area of the sole, said flexible part of said outer sole extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of said sole and having a thickness smaller than the thickness of said shank area.

2. A sport shoe comprising an upper, an insole, and a resilient outer sole of plastic, means for removably securing cleats or spikes at least to the front area of said outer sole in front of its shank area, at least the part of said outer sole between said shank area and the last cleats or spikes in front of said shank area being of a greater flexibility than said shank area for displacing the bending stresses normally acting upon the shank area in the direction toward the toe area of the sole, said flexible part of said outer sole being formed by a part having a thickness smaller than the thickness of said shank area and the thickness of the parts of the front area of said sole which are adapted to support said cleats or spikes and extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of said sole so as to leave a lasting margin between its ends and the lateral edges of said sole.

3. A sport shoe comprising an upper, an insole, and a resilient outer sole of plastic, means for removably securing celats or spikes at least to the front area of said outer sole in front of its shank area, at least the part of said outer sole between said shank area and the last cleats or spikes in front of said shank area being of a greater flexibility than said shank area for displacing the bending stresses normally acting upon the shank area in the direction toward the toe area of the sole, said cleats or spikes being adapted to be secured to the toe, ball, and heel areas of said sole, said sole having integrally thereon a projecting reinforcing layer extending continuously between the parts of said sole which are adapted to support said spikes or cleats on said ball and heel areas and also reinforcing said shank area, said reinforcing layer having at least one transverse recess therein between said shank and ball areas and at least one transverse recess between said ball and toe areas, said recesses forming flexible parts in said sole.

4. A sport shoe as defined in claim 3, in which said insole is provided with flexible parts in positions substantially corresponding to those of said recesses in said outer sole.

5. A sport shoe as defined in claim 4, in which said flexible parts of said insole are formed by transverse parts of a reduced thickness.

6. A sport shoe as defined in claim 4, in which said flexible parts of said insole are formed by apertures in said insole.

7. A sport shoe as defined in claim 6, in which said apertures in said insole are filled with a soft cushioning material.

8. A sport shoe as defined in claim 5, in which said transverse parts have such a length that between each of their ends and the adjacent lateral edge of said insole an unreduced marginal strip remains having a width of at least 10 mm.

9. An athletic shoe having an outer sole made of a re-' silient plastic extending from the toe to at least the shank area; means for removably securing cleats or spikes to the front area of said sole; said sole having on its underside a Web which is located in the shank area, which extends in the direction of the length of said sole, and the edges of which web are spaced from the edges of the remainder of said sole.

10. An athletic shoe as defined in claim 9 wherein said web is integral with the remainder of said sole.

11. An athletic shoe as defined in claim 9 wherein said web extends beyond said shank area and into the front area of said sole; said web, in said front area of said sole, being provided with recesses which impart to said web regions that have greater flexibility than the remainder of said Web.

12. An athletic shoe as defined in claim 11 wherein said means for removably securing cleats or spikes are on said web.

13. An athletic shoe as defined in claim 11 wherein said recesses extend laterally to near the edges of said Web.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 955,337 4/1910 Lawlor 362.5 1,400,428 12/1921 Greenough 3630 2,258,734 10/1941 Brady 36-2.5 X 2,405,443 8/1946 Mees 36-30 3,165,841 1/1965 Rollman 36-30 X PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. 

1. A SPORT SHOE COMPRISING AN UPPER, AND INSOLE, AND A RESILIENT OUTER SOLE OF PLASTIC, MEANS FOR REMOVABLY SECURING CLEATS OR SPIKES AT LEAST TO THE FRONT AREA OF SAID OUTER SOLE IN FRONT OF ITS SHANK AREA, AT LEAST THE PART OF SAID OUTER SOLE BETWEEN SAID SHANK AREA AND THE LAST CLEATS OR SPIKES IN FRONT OF SAID SHANK AREA BEING OF A GREATER FLEXIBILITY THAN SAID SHANK AREA FOR DISPLACING THE BENDING STRESSES NORMALLY ACTING UPON THE SHANK AREA IN THE DIRECTION TOWARD THE TOE AREA OF THE SOLE, SAID FLEXIBLE PART OF SAID OUTER SOLE EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY TO THE LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION OF SAID SOLE AND HAVING A THICKNESS SMALLER THAN THE THICKNESS OF SAID SHANK AREA. 